April 27th, 2026 Next Summary on Wednesday

Politics - President Trump comments on negotiations

- Drone strike Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant

Combat Ops - Lots of activity, small gains on the ground

- Large drones and missile strike Saturday night

- Russian Navy ships again struck import Sevastopol

Weather

Kharkiv

45 and rain showers, gusting to 35. Showers should end tonight, but there is a chance of showers tomorrow afternoon. Partly to mostly cloudy all week. Daily lows in the low 30s, daily highs in the upper 40s. Winds variable, 10-15kts.

Melitopol

49, partly cloudy, gusting over 30. Partly to mostly cloudy all week, winds dropping tomorrow morning. Daily lows around 40s, daily highs near 60. Winds variable, 10-15kts.

Kyiv

43, cloudy and windy, gusting over 45.  Mostly cloudy all week, but winds dropping early tomorrow. Daily lows in the low 30s, daily highs in the mid 40s. Winds westerly, 10-20kts.

Politics

Diplomatic efforts remain stalled. President Trump spoke with both President Zelenskyy and President Putin over the weekend, and commented that he had "good conversations” with both and added that:

“We’re working on the Russia situation, Russia and Ukraine, and hopefully we’re going to get it.  I do have conversations with him, and I do have conversations with President Zelenskyy, and good conversations. The hatred between President Putin and President Zelenskyy is ridiculous. It’s crazy. And hate is a bad thing. Hate is a bad thing when you’re trying to settle something, but it’ll happen.”

Zelenskyy insists he is ready to meet Putin anywhere except inside Russia. The Kremlin insists there is no point in meeting until there is some basic agreement for the two men to discuss, resolve final differences and sign.

One man was killed this morning in a drone attack on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP); the attack has been confirmed by the IAEA. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi issued a statement:

“Strikes on or near nuclear power plants can threaten nuclear safety and must not occur.”

Ground Operations

Overall, Russian operations appear to have increased in tempo along most of the front, and there have been some small changes in line.

SUMY AND KHARKIV OBLASTS

Due north of Sumy City Russian forces pushed back into the town of Kyndrativka on Saturday, and there are multiple reports from the last several days of Russian elements pushing across the border into previously quiet areas in Sumy and Kharkiv oblasts. There is now a section of border east of Sumy, perhaps 25 miles long, in which Russian forces have moved across the border and pushed in perhaps a half mile to a mile. While the ostensible reason is a Russian aim to create a buffer zone along the border, the more likely purpose is to attempt to draw Ukrainian forces to shift some assets and weaken portions of the front. However, to date Ukrainian forces response has been with border guard units, not regular army units.

EAST OF THE OSKIL RIVER

Ukrainian sources have confirmed Russian forces active both in Kupyansk and east of that city, with imagery confirming that Russian forces have pushed back into the small town of Petropavlivka, and Ukrainian sources noting increased Russian recon probes back into the city (ruins) of Kuypyansk.

SLOVYANSK - KOSTIANTNIVKA - POKROVSK

A good deal of fighting in the general area east of Slovyansk; the only clear change is Russian forces pushing west across the Donets Canal, just south of the where the canal crosses under by the M03 Roadway. If they can hold and expand that position they would threaten the village of Yurkivka (a village of perhaps 20 houses, just north of the roadway), and from there pressure the Ukrainian positions near Rai Oleksandrivka, not quite 3 miles to the north-east. 

Multiple reports of Russian infiltrations deeper into Kostiantinivka over the last several days, but also several reports of Ukrainian forces pushing back into eastern Kostiantinivka, as the “checkerboard” continues to slowly expand.

The same development has taken place around Pokrovsk, with Russian forces seeming to take over Rodynske, north of Pokrovsk, but multiple reports of Ukrainian elements dug into portions of that town and the terrain just north of Pokrovsk.

SOUTHERN UKRAINE

Ukrainian forces report that they have pushed back into Vorone (about 20 miles north-east of Hulyaipole), though it wasn’t clear last week that they had lost it. The town has now changed hands 4 times in perhaps 6 months, 3 times in the last 2 months. Ukrainian forces also report that Russian forces have retaken Berzove (about 4 miles south-west of Vorone). 

There has been poor reporting coming out of this area but this fairly rapid back and forth suggests more Russian activity here; if this follows Russian operations from last year, they will commit more forces in the summer and push to retake the terrain they lost in February and March.

Further south, imagery and Ukrainian reporting suggest Russian probes further west from Hulyaipole, perhaps as far as 10 miles to the west along the T0814 roadway, even as several small Ukrainian elements have infiltrated into Russian positions just north-west of Hulyaipole.

Air and Maritime Operations

During the night of April 26th-April 27th Russian forces launched at least 94 x strike drones into Ukrainian airspace. The UAF claimed it shot down, or defeated with EW, 74 drones.

Damage was reported in Kharkiv oblast. 

Targets included the power grid and transportation infrastructure. 

There was no civilian casualty report.

RuAF tacair struck 20 towns.

Ukrainian Special Forces claimed to have struck Sevastopol Harbor again on Sunday and again damaged the Alligator class amphib Nikolai Fichelnikov, and the Ropucha class amphib Yamal, both if which had been hit in a strike on April 19th.

Also damaged was the Ivan class intelligence collector Ivan Khurs. Ivan Khurs was struck by a surface drone (USV) in 2023. A MiG-31 located at Belbek airfield (4 miles north of Sevastopol) was also damaged.

During the night of April 25th-April 26th Russian forces launched at least 144 x strike drones into Ukrainian airspace. The UAF claimed it shot down, or defeated with EW, 124 drones.

Damage was reported in Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Odessa and Zhytomyr oblasts. 

Targets included the power grid and transportation infrastructure, and one drone at least hit a cargo ship loading in Odessa.

There was no civilian casualty report.

RuAF tacair struck 17 towns.

During the night of April 24th-April 25th Russian forces launched at least 12 x Iskander ballistic missiles, 29 x Kh-101 cruise missiles, 1 x Iskander cruise missile, 5 x Kalibr cruise missiles, and 619 x strike drones into Ukrainian airspace. The UAF claimed it shot down, or defeated with EW, 30 cruise missiles and 580 drones.

Damage was reported in Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Odessa and Sumy oblasts. 

Targets included the power grid and transportation infrastructure. 

Civilian casualties included at least 6 killed and 47 wounded.

During the night of April 23rd-April 24th Russian forces launched at least 2 x Iskander ballistic missiles and 107 x strike drones into Ukrainian airspace. The UAF claimed it shot down, or defeated with EW, 96 drones.

Damage was reported in Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Zhytomyr oblasts. 

Targets included the power grid and transportation infrastructure. Power outages were reported in more than 100 towns Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Sumy,  and Zhytomyr oblasts.

Civilian casualties included at least 2 killed and 5 wounded.

RuAF tacair struck 16 towns.

During the 23rd or 24th Ukrainian forces struck Yekaterinburg (more than 800 miles east of Moscow) and Chelyabinsk (about the same distance, about 100 miles south of Yekaterinburg). Pictures shows smoke coming from a steel plant in Chelyabinsk, and damage to an apartment building in Yekaterinburg.

Ukrainian Rail reports that during all of 2025 Russian strikes hit 119 engines, 425 cars, 38 stations and 64 bridges, but in the first three months of 2026 they have already hit 81 engines, 185 cars, 12 stations and 22 bridges.

Economic Reporting

Feb22  Jan8 Feb9 Mar9 Apr8 Apr24 Apr27

Brent      94.71   61.26 68.57 106.40 91.78 104.20 105.90

WTI     92.10   57.10 64.04 103.60 93.53 94.56 94.64

NG       3.97      3.41 3.20 3.37 2.73 2.54 2.57

Wheat     8.52  5.22 5.29 6.25 5.79 6.18 6.19

Ruble     85          80.35 77.40 78.20 78.54 75.30 74.92

Hryvnia 28.6 43.10 43.03 43.93 43.45 44.04 44.09

Urals 91.66 50.40 56.37 90.97 124.85 107.49 105.99

ESPO 94.52 52.28 59.77 84.99 103.27 109.35 109.13

Sokol 99.31 55.57 62.85 101.55 96.88 107.34 101.56

Thoughts

The IAEA wording is, as usual, careful, having never accused one side or the other of launching drones or firing artillery into the general area of the ZNPP. The ZNPP was occupied early in the war (March 4th, 2022); the first reported incident of artillery or rockets or drones hitting near the facility was July of 2022, when a rocket landed inside the facility, coincidentally just several weeks after Ukrainian forces began to use the HIMARS battlefield rockets. Note that the facility, not including the large cooling pond, covers an area of 2 x 4 miles, and that no rocket or artillery or drone has ever impacted one of the reactors.

Since that first incident there have been repeated artillery, rocket, mortar strikes, and the occasional drone strike in the general area, with Ukraine accusing the Russians of trying to stage a false flag event and blame the Ukrainians, and Russia has repeatedly accused Ukrainian forces of shelling the facility. Russians have used the facility to park artillery, and there is circumstantial evidence that points to strikes coming from Ukrainian forces, but there the matter sits.

v/r pete